Palisades faces tough call with Porrata

Should wrestling coach be given chance to coach next year?

Seemingly from the moment he came to Palisades High School in 2008, Omar Porrata knew exactly what needed to be done to make the wrestling program viable.

Actually, he knew beforehand, according to Eric Gretzinger, who was part of the selection committee. Gretzinger is the father of Palisades junior wrestler Christian Gretzinger.

"I was part of the interview process," Gretzinger said. "He knew the names of individuals in our youth program, of individual wrestlers. Because he's been at youth events. That impressed me so much — that he was looking at kids not just in the high school, not just in the middle school. He saw the potential in that youth program.

"So in my estimation … I saw a man who was looking to establish a tradition at Palisades and had a very long-term view."

A view he carried out beyond anyone's wildest dreams, given the futility of all half-dozen very qualified coaches who tried before.

Now Palisades is faced with the task of starting all over after accepting with no rebuttal the District 11 committee's decision to ostensibly end Porrata's career at the school.

At a Sunday hearing, the committee found Porrata guilty of unsportsmanlike behavior for his decision to forfeit an entire match to Bethlehem Catholic at the District Duals on Super Bowl weekend. Then it dropped the hammer on him like it had on no other.

It ruled that no team from any District 11 school that employs Porrata as a coach before the end of next season will be allowed to compete in any PIAA postseason competition.

Porrata and his supporters had been hoping to have his suspension for the rest of this season overturned. Instead, the committee went the other way, bringing a sudden end to a six-year period of resurgence under Porrata's command and leaving the parents and wrestlers in stunned disbelief.

Palisades has 30 days to appeal the ruling, but the feeling in Porrata's camp is that it actually welcomed the decision. Perhaps the parents can force a change in thinking in what they promise will be an emotional athletic committee meeting with administrators on Feb. 26.

But that would only save next season.

With the clock ticking on this one, Palisades' silence has been deafening.

Other than two prepared statements issued from Superintendent Bridget O'Connell, there have been no comments and no interview requests granted by O'Connell, Principal Rich Heffernan or athletic director Rebecca George since Sunday's hearing.

Porrata also has refused to comment since the ruling, and assistant coach Ricci Bass has not responded to requests for an interview.

Bass is the only other paid wrestling coach in the school system besides first-year middle school coach John Lindquist. And because Ricci has a full-time job that sometimes prevents him from being with the team, it is unclear how the Pirates will be coached in the individual postseason tournaments, which begin Friday.

O'Connell's statement on Monday read: "The Palisades School District is working to make sure that the Palisades wrestling team has a successful experience in the PIAA individual tournament with a trained coach. Since the hearing just occurred yesterday, we have not had the opportunity to meet with qualified wrestling coaches on staff. Once we have the name of the coach who will be coaching our student-athletes from the bench, we will share that information."

Gretzinger and other fathers of wrestlers such as Larry Wasser and Al Marsh have volunteered from time to time. But as of Monday evening, they had no idea what was going on either.

"It sounds like they didn't have anything thought out before this happened," said Ella Marsh, Al's wife and mother of sophomore wrestler Tyler Marsh. "It's really disappointing because nobody knows what's going on. Wrestling is such a physical sport, but it's also such a mental sport. You have to be ready."

Added Larry Wasser: "I think there's some crookedness going on … and that's about all I'm going to say until the 26th."

Gretzinger compared what Porrata has done with the Palisades wrestling program to what Brian Gilbert did with the football team in the 2000s, which was no small task, considering what Porrata walked into that first season.

Porrata knew the top challenge was to make sure the healthy numbers of wrestlers in the junior program would carry over to the middle school and high school programs. Before he arrived that wasn't happening, according to Gretzinger.

"It wasn't because [the previous coaches] were incapable," he said. "They just walked into a situation where there literally was no high school program, and they were given the task: `You need to pull this out of the ashes and try to make something of this program, try to establish a tradition at Palisades.'

"Palisades has had a traditionally vibrant, thriving youth wrestling association, typically with 40-60 kids who knew full well as they come up through the youth organization that … once they hit middle school, the whole program dies on the vine."

Porrata constructed a bridge to stop that from happening with a vision, a personality and a whole lot of unpaid overtime.

"Even after he was appointed head coach of Palisades, he would take time out of his Sundays to come to the youth events to cheer these kids on, to give them words of encouragement. That started Year 1 with him, and it's been six years of him doing that."

Said Wasser: "I've been involved with the Palisades program for 11 years, and Omar is the first coach to try to change things in a positive way and to push the kids to get the most out of them."